“All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” was written by Donald Yetter Gardner in 1944.
All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth,
My two front teeth, see my two front teeth.
Gee, if I could only have my two front teeth,
Then I could wish you “Merry Christmas.”
“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”, written by Tommie Connor in 1952.
I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus,
Underneath the mistletoe last night.
She didn’t see me creep
Down the stairs to have a peep.
She thought that I was tucked up in my bedroom fast asleep.
These songs were two of my favorites when I was young. During the Christmas holidays, our house was always filled with music, either from the radio or from the phonograph. One of the biggest thrills for our family was when my parents bought a stereo Hi-Fi, upon which we could stack many record albums, and let them play automatically in succession for hours. When the “A” sides of the albums had all played, we could just turn the stack over and listen to the “B” sides.
In 1958, “The Chipmunk Song” was written. Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. wrote the song and performed the voices of David Seville and all three chipmunks, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore.
Christmas, Christmas time is near,
Time for toys and time for cheer,
We’ve been good, but we can’t last,
Hurry Christmas, hurry fast.
My father had purchased the album “Christmas with the Chipmunks” and my family listened to the album over and over. My sister discovered that, if she used her finger to slow the turntable, she could clearly tell that the voices of the chipmunks were the same as the voice of David Seville, speeded up.
When I was in fourth grade, I bought my first “Peanuts” book, and over the next couple of years I bought several others . By 1967, when The Royal Guardsmen recorded “Snoopy’s Christmas”, my whole family was familiar with the tales of Snoopy and the Red Baron.
Was the night before Christmas, 40 below,
When Snoopy went up in search of his foe.
He spied the Red Baron, fiercely they fought,
With ice on his wings, Snoopy knew he was caught.
My family owned a number of other Christmas recordings and we listened to all the standards . Today, Christmas songs bring back special memories of my youth, when absolutely nothing could compare with the excitement and joy of Christmas.
Written for the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories – Day 21.
Copyright © 2007 by Stephen J. Danko
Ahhh, I had that Chipmunk record but I never knew it was all done by one man. How wonderful to learn that in my “old” age. I can still hear Dave yelling “Alvin!” Ha Ha. Thanks for the memories!
Snoopy and The Red Baron was one of my favorites. I bought the album for my kids and it was BJ’s favorite. I passed the old album on to him and now his boys love it. But they think it might sound better on a CD 🙂
I actually have a copy of that exact album. It has
a red shiny cover with the Chipmunks pictures
on it. On side two of the album:
1)Good Morning Song
2)Whistle While You Work
3)If You Love Me
4)Ragtime Cowboy Joe
5)Pop Goes The Weasel
6)The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)
It was a favorite of my childhood also!
The album cover says it is their first album release.